Wishing & Granting
by Ali OMalley Cat
Summary: Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. This is my entry for the twiscififantasycontest.


**Disclaimer:** The author does not own any publicly recognizable entities herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N** This was my entry for the twiscififantasycontest. Thanks to my beta & pre reader CeeCee :)

* * *

Ever hear the expression a dream is a wish your heart makes? Well, that's partly true. Dreams are nothing but beta waves sorting and filing away your day while your body recharges. They have nothing to do with wishes, at least not the subconscious kind anyway.

If you are looking for the true origin of a wish, the heart is where you'd start and finish your search. Wishes are our true heart's desire. Feel it hard enough, loud enough, and it just might come true. How you ask? Well, that's up to the Grantor's.

Who? Now that's a story in and of itself. I can't tell you where they came from, when they appeared or even what they are. But I can tell you what they do. They sit up high in the sky, in the stars, or Wish Stations to give it the correct title, listening to our heart's desire, to our wishes, and then the Grantor's, who have been chosen as the Wish Givers, make them come true.

Now the Grantor's, in all their majestic beauty and infinite knowledge of the galaxy, don't know an awful lot about the wants of humans. Wishing for something too literal can sometimes lead to undesired results. Humans have complex emotions that run deep—soul deep—and the Grantors don't quite understand them.

I hear you asking: why do these mysterious beings sit so high above and do nothing day and night but grant our desires? Well, it's simple. Wishes create a by-product that the Grantor's call "Ja'Kluch", loosely translated to "life source" in English.

The Life Source is like electricity, and without it, the Grantors wouldn't be able to run their homes and work stations. It's used to run the artificial fields that grow the crops and house their livestock. Anything we use electricity for, they use the Life Source for.

To fully understand the process of Wishing and Granting, I think it would be best to show you, don't you?

~W&G~

Bella is a dreamer and has been for as long as she can remember. Very little can keep her focused once the allure of a fantasy has its grip on her imagination. Over the years, she has dreamed up all kinds of scenarios and alternate universes. From magical lands with princesses and dragons to being famous for this or that talent. But in each of her different dreams there was one constant, one recurring theme that was the main focus of Bella's daydreaming, and that was her best friend, Angela.

Angela is clever. She has a sharp mind and a calculating intellect which left her sometimes frustrated with Bella's daydreaming, but ultimately, she finds her scatter-brained best friend amusing. They suite each other perfectly. While Angela is the brains of the operation, making sure Bella completes her homework on time and doesn't fall too far behind in class, Bella is the one who organises all their fun. From birthday parties to end-of-year blowouts. Bella keeps Angela from working too hard, and Angela, in turn, keeps Bella from walking into things when she spaces out.

The girls have grown up next door to each other, from birth until young adulthood, when they both embarked to college together. They spent every recess, hot summer evening and snow day together. They were partners in every class and school trip, and they even went on each other's family vacations. Now, after graduating together, the possibility that the adult world will finally pull them apart, looms above their pretty heads.

A long time ago, shortly after Angela had her heartbroken by Ben "Playboy" Cheney, Bella had realised she was completely and irrevocably in love with Angela. And every year since then, Bella has vowed to confess her love to the blue-eyed goddess who shared her room, and every year, she chickened out.

Tilting her head towards heaven, pulsing her love out into the universe, she wishes with all of her soul that she could have Angela's heart, just as the pretty girl from next door has hers.

Miles and miles above her head, Bella's wish soars. Pass the birds and lovers in hot air-balloons, through misty clouds of rain and snow, it flies towards its target of light and hope.

Ed'Werad is the Grantor on duty that day. He sits behind a desk filled with buttons and knobs that lights up like Christmas. Bella's wish flashes on screen, her words permanently saving into the Grantor's database aboard Wish Station Five. Ed'Werad logs the wish, checks that no other counter wishes that would interfere with this one has been requested, files the necessary paperwork and then presses the "Grant" button located in the centre of his consol.

"Estimated time for wish fulfilment… three earth hours." Ed'Werad reads the timescale that had popped up on screen. Pressing the intercom button located behind his right ear, Ed'Werad contactes the Wish Fulfilment Department. "This is Wish Giver Ed'Werad at console 456 confirming a wish fulfilment in three earth hours. Please confirm this Wish has been logged for payment tracking."

A melodic, bell-like voice, much like his own, responds via the intercom, "Affirmative, Grantor Ed'Werad. Wish case reference _Angela's Heart_ has been logged and is ready for the Life Source."

When Ed'Werad had been chosen to join this wish station as a Wish Giver he had been overjoyed. It is the highest honour one could receive, and he would be following in his father's footsteps. Now sixty years since his first day, the joy and excitement that fills his heart is still there.

Satisfied that this Wish had been successfully granted, Edward moves on to the next incoming one.

Meanwhile, Bella and Angela are heading to the bar after class. It is their Friday night tradition, laid down by Bella of course. No studying until Saturday afternoon. Angela's arm is linked through Bella's, and even through the thick fabric of her woollen pullover, Bella can feel the other girl's body, warm and soft against hers.

"Please," Bella thinks, "Let her love me."

Giggling and gossiping, the two girls step out into the road, paying no mind to the busy traffic whizzing by them. Screeching tyres, screams of confusion fill the air as they jump back to the safety of the sidewalk, the colorful weapons whizzing by them once more.

Red faced and slightly out of breath, Angela lets out a nervous chuckle. "Whoa, that was close! We oughta…" Her brows furrow in confusion, her normally bright blue eyes dim and drop to her chest. Bella, never one to miss an opportunity to admire Angela's glorious body, lets her eyes drop too.

At first, neither girl can understand why the once white hoody starts to bloom bright red, but all too soon reality catches up with them as Angela pitches forward. A large masculine figure running in the opposite direction, carrying Angela's purse, subconsciously registers in Bella's mind, but she pays it no attention. Not with Angela in her arms. Bella lowers them both to the cold, hard ground as she stares in horror as the thick, wet patch on Angela's chest grows bigger.

"Angela." Her voice is no more than a whisper and filled with fear.

"My back, Bella," Angela mouths, the words caught in her throat, gurgling in her blood.

Bella moves her hand and feels the knife sticking hard and sharp into her friend's back. Panicking and willing the pain in Angela's eyes to disappear, Bella pulls the now-sticky-with-blood weapon from Angela's back in one quick, sharp jerk.

An ear splitting, bone rattling, soul destroying scream rips its way out of Angela's pale lips before she slumps back, all life draining from her once vibrant body. Ruby red liquid pools around the victim and her love, hot and thick, it saturates their clothes and stains the pavement. And sitting in Bella's hand, on the end of a knife so big, she can't understand how it didn't come right out the other side of Angela, is her love's heart.

~W&G~

"Be careful what you wish for," comes to mind, hmm? The problem is a Grantor is a very literal creature.

They're tall, the smallest of them still reaching dizzying heights of eight foot ten inches, and stick thin. Uniformed body shapes with flat chests, thin waists and small hips make it difficult to discern their sex. All Grantor's wear their hair long and braided in some way. The strands are silky soft and glow like starlight. With skin as pale as moonlight and lips an icy blue, they give off an ethereal beauty that is astounding.

The only way to determine a Grantor's sex is by their eyes and ears. The species have milky irises, much like those of a blind human, but the males have different hues of blue marbled through the misty white while the females have tones of pinks, rose and other blush colours. The male's ears have long lobes that curve down and follow their jawline while the females have long graceful points at the tips.

As a species, the Grantor's are proud with a very strong sense of obligation and duty to be a good contributing member of society. When a Grantor turns thirteen earth years old they are tested to determine which job role within a wish station they would be most suited to. Those who test highly in nurturing and protection are assigned to cleaning, cooking and medical care while those who are more logical are sent into the clerical department. To become a Wish Giver you have to test highly in imagination.

Unfortunately, because Grantor's have difficulty empathising with humans, their interpretation of how to fulfil a human's wish can be quite different, as you've just witnessed. The key to a successful wish—successful for the human as all wishes are successful for the Grantors—is to be clear. What Bella should have wished for was Angela's love, or better yet, that Angela returned the same feelings that Bella had. Humans tend to "pretty up" their words, injecting flowery connotations in the hopes that they sound creative. This greatly confuses the Grantors at times.

They don't all turn out that way; some get exactly what their heart wishes for. I suppose I had better show you? All right then. Here we go.

~W&G~

Jasper is an only child and not a stranger to being lonely. He lacked the social skills to fit in with the other kids at school, which often left him in the corner of the playground, alone, playing by himself. Now, at the age of twenty and soul achingly lonely, he craves human interaction.

"I wish people would for once in my life just... like me."

The wish blooms and blossoms within his heart before leaping out and up into the waiting universe. Al'Eece was the Grantor on duty when this request reached Wish Station Five.

"This Wish will need to be quite… involved." Al'Eece muses, "If the Wish isn't big enough the Life Source that is generated won't be enough to cover what was used to grant it in the first place." After assessing how intense the effects of the wish would need to be to generate enough Life Source that it would be worthwhile, Al'Eece comes to a decision.

Paper work is filed, the Wish Fulfilment Department is notified and the "Grant" button is pushed. Estimated timescale for total wish fulfilment is ten earth years. A very rare, but not unheard of, smile twitches at the corners of Al'Eece's ice blue lips. Grantors have very high work ethics, and a job well done is always cause for prideful feelings.

Oblivious to the changes his life has just undergone, Jasper sits at his desk in front of his PC in his slightly untidy room. Years of spending time alone has allowed him to master the guitar. His fingers skip over the strings, forming chords as if they were naturally meant to do so, and the sounds that are produced render listeners dumbstruck.

Turning on his webcam and situating himself into a comfortable position, Jasper introduces himself. "Okay, so my name is Jasper, and this is my first recording of myself playing the guitar. I'm going to play Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. So, yeah, be kind."

And with that slightly awkward speech, he turns his attention to his beloved midnight black acoustic Fender and plucks the most beautiful notes from her. Gorgeous melody from his deep, southern voice mixes with the alluring notes of the guitar, all captured by the tiny webcam.

Jasper tweaks and edits some of the video footage, and when he's satisfied that he doesn't look or sound like a complete tool, he hits the upload button. A small shot of adrenaline jumps into his system as he realises he just posted himself performing onto Youtube.

"No point in stressing about it now." He tries to convince himself as the nerves jangle through him. Staring at the ceiling, he wonders if he'll ever get to sleep or if the anticipation will keep him tossing and turning all night.

When he climbs out of bed the next day, Jasper promises himself that he'll get his chores done before he checks his Youtube account. A phone call from his only friend dissolves that promise in an instant.

"Duuuude, you're trending." Tyler's voice holds notes of shock with a tiny bit of jealousy.

The two boys have been friends since they were tiny, having both been babysat by Mrs. Cope for the majority of their childhood while their parents worked. There was something about the quiet shy boy that had brought out the protective side of Tyler, and years later, he is still looking after him. Unfortunately for Jasper, they had gone to different schools.

It was Tyler's idea that Jasper take guitar lessons. "Because the ladies love a man who plays guitar." He had reasoned. Tyler has always felt a sense of pride whenever he hears Jasper play as he feels partly responsible for nurturing his phenomenal talent. But today, as ecstatic as he is for Jasper, he can't help feeling a twinge of the green-eyed monster.

"What are you talking about?" Jasper knows fine well what he is talking about but can't quite bring himself to believe it.

"You're all over the internet, man. Why didn't you tell me you were posting a video? I've been begging you to do it for years. Listen, don't log on until I get there okay? I wanna see your face when you realise how much people like you!" And with that Tyler hangs up.

In a daze, Jasper flops back onto his bed. "I'm trending?" He wonders aloud to no one. "This is insane. It's unbelievable."

And then Tyler's parting words echo in his mind. "People like you." The realisation makes Jasper slightly light headed, and he puts his blond-haired head between his knees.

This is how Tyler finds him. "You're not gonna barf are you? Coz that's seriously uncool, dude."

Jasper flips him the bird but doesn't move from his doubled over position. Barfing _would_ be uncool right now. The sound of Tyler's fingers tapping away at his keyboard has his heart leaping into his throat.

"What are you doing?!" His voice is all strangled and high pitched, like when he was going through puberty.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm logging in to read your comments, man." More tapping follows, each press of the button loud and intrusive to Jasper's ears.

"Whoa, there's another ten thousand hits since I looked half an hour ago!" The awe in Tyler's voice has Jasper running to the monitor.

And there, blinking up at him, is the most astonishing figure. Seven hundred and seven thousand five hundred and eighty eight people have watched him pluck away on his guitar. Blood rushes to his cheeks in… embarrassment? Modesty? He isn't sure, but his knees are about to buckle under the enormity of the situation.

Falling into the chair next to Tyler, he asks, "Are… are all of the comments positive?" His voice wobbles, but he's too shocked to be embarrassed about that.

"Well, I haven't sat and trawled through the hundreds of thousands that are there, but the ones I did read were all positive. You wanna take a look?"

Nodding his head, Jasper grips the edge of the desk to keep himself anchored as Tyler begins to scroll through the comments.

User456 "This guy is amazing!"

Cookie_Monsterxxx "OMG how sexy is this guy?! And talented too! Such an amazing voice!"

xXxBeauty4uxXx "Ugh this dude is amazing, just look at that fingering. He can work his magic on me any day ;)"

Cal_God89 "Dude! Someone get this guy a record deal!"

Every single comment is positive, granted not all of them focused on his guitar or singing abilities, but not even the trolls have weighed in to bring the mood down. Tears pricked at Jasper's eyes as the overwhelming feeling of acceptance wash over him.

The shrill ring of his mobile startles the boys out of their musings. Chuckling sheepishly, Jasper answers the unknown number. "Hey, this is Jasper Whitlock."

A deep authoritative voice answers his tentative hello. "Jasper, this is L.A. Reid from Epic Records. Kid, I'm gonna make you a star."

Ten earth years later, Wish Giver Al'Eece is tallying her monthly figures when a spike in the data catches her eye. A small smile tugs at her alien mouth as she remembers the young lonely boy wishing to be liked. Now, he's a multi Grammy and Oscar winner with awards and platinum albums hanging from his walls. And up on Wish Station Five, the always needed life source has been increased dramatically.

"What a satisfactory day." She muses to herself before turning back to the charts she was perusing.

~W&G~

Two very different wishes with two very different outcomes. I dare to say that had either human's had different Wish Givers then their wishes would have turned out differently. Just as it would have had they worded them another way. Such is the nature of Wishing and Granting.


End file.
